Our U.S. Pat. No. 7,421,569, filed Dec. 30, 2004 discusses a system of interacting with a virtual representation of a real world product. According to this system, a user can buy a toy such as 100 which is associated with a special code 105. The toy 100 exists in the real world, and the code 105 forms a key to the virtual world 110. The user enters the code 105 on a website and enters the virtual world 110.
The virtual world 110 provides activities and views with which the user can interact. The virtual world 110, as part of the interaction, provides a virtual replica 115 of the actual toy 100. Users can carry out various activities on the website using their virtual version of the toy. For example, the user can form a house with rooms, furniture, things, clothing, and other things. The user can also carry out activities to earn virtual cash, and purchase virtual items using that cash.
Our co-pending application Ser. No. 11/942,301 filed Nov. 19, 2007, describes transfers of rewards between websites. The disclosure of this application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.